September 2016

Sunday, September 18, 2016

I started by creating the house image. I stamped the house on white watercolor cardstock using versafine black ink and then heat embossed with clear embossing powder. Then I used Peerless watercolors and a water brush to color the house. Then I fussy cut around the edges. I stamped the greeting in black ink and set them both aside.

Then I created the inky background. I put the grid stencil over a piece of white cardstock and then put a piece of tape across where I wanted the grass line to be. I used the Clarity brush to apply the green Distress ink to below the tape. Then I flipped the tape so I could do the sky and applied the blue Distress Ink. I intentionally left some white around the edges.

The card front was matted with some green cardstock and then the sentiment was attached to the card. I put some foam tape behind the house and attached it. Then I put an epoxy heart below greeting.

To create the card base I used the Stitched Strips dies. I removed the circled on the side and left the rest of them attached to each other. This made it easy to die cut them several times to cover the background. Then I adhered the card front using white fun foam. As a final touch I added some Glossy Accents to the windows of the house.

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Every year we anxiously await new Holiday goodies from Tim Holtz and this exclusive collaboration set for STAMPtember? Well worth the wait!

I was lucky to receive this set to play with in advance. And I got a little carried away. It appears that other designers did too because there are some amazing cards shown in this video from Tim. The fun thing about this stamp set is that it pulls designs from 4 of the Tim Holtz holiday stamp sets that were introduced yesterday. And they were re-sized just for cards. And the stencil also pulls from two different designs.

I have three cards to share today. Let's start with this wreath card.

I wanted to do a card with a very soft look. I stamped the wreath with Versamark ink on watercolor paper, then heat embossed with white embossing powder. To color the wreath and background I used Zig Clean Color markers. First I applied a little water to the area I was coloring with a water brush and then I just dabbed a little color in the area. The water helps it to spread really easily. Once that was done I created the white panel using a circle die and a square die. Then I mounted the watercolor piece on a white, square card base and adhere the white panel with foam tape.

For my second card I used the stencil.

I placed the stencil so that the poinsettias were in the bottom right corner of a piece of Desert Storm cardstock. Using a mini round ink applicator and the stencil I applied Picket Fence ink to parts of the stencil that I wanted to use (the poinsettias). This ink does two things. First, it allows whatever I put on top of it to have its true color. Without it, the ink color on the Desert Storm paper will muddy. Also, if you offset the stamping of the second color it leaves a white shadow image that is really pretty. Once I applied the white ink I shifted the stencil slightly and applied the Festive Berries distress ink.

I stamped the greeting using Versafine Black ink. To add some interest I flicked some Hero Arts Unicorn spray droplets on to the background. Then I applied some Classic Cherry Enamel accent to the center of the poinsettias. Once they were dry I die cut the card front panel with a stitched rectangle die and adhered it to a white card base using foam tape.

One last card for today using the stamp set.

I loved the little holly and berry design on the stamp set. I stamped it repeatedly on white cardstock using Simon Says Stamp Intense Black ink (because it's Copic friendly). Then I colored the images and the background with Copic markers (YG25, YG97, B000). To add dimension and shine to the berries I used Classic Cherry Enamel Accent. Once that was dry I die cut the card front with a stitched rectangle die.

I stamped the greeting on white cardstock using Wild Cherry Hybrid ink and then die cut it into a little banner. This was attached to the card front using foam tape and 3 red enamel dots were added. Then the card front was adhered to a 4 bar card base.

Thank you for joining me. I hope you are enjoying STAMPtember as much as I am.

Wednesday, September 07, 2016

This stamp set is simply amazing. I struggle with arranging flower set on a card. But this set? All of the stems/leaves are arranged for you, just like you see them on this card! So all you have to do is add the flowers that you want. Brilliant!

So to make this card all you have to do is pick your favorite ink colors! I seem to reach for Hero Arts Pale Tomato for most floral cards I make. So I decided I had to try something else, hard as it was, and went with Bubble Gum as the base of the big pink flower. Then I chose the colors from there. As you can see they are layered any way you want. I made six of these using my MISTI in no time (what DID I do before I had that tool)

Once it was all stamped I used my Powder tool to be sure the embossing powder wouldn't stick, stamped the greeting in Versamark and embossed with clear embossing powder. These days I can't seem to finish a card without flicking some little dots of color on it! For this one I smooshed some Audrey Blue ink on an acrylic block, sprayed with just a little water and then flicked it randomly on the card front using a small brush. The bigger the brush? The bigger the flecks of color. For this I wanted just a hint so I picked the smallest brush in the set..

Then I added some clear sequins using Ranger Multi Medium Matte, matted the card front in Audrey Blue cardstock and added it to a white card base.

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

I love pretty ink colors. They make a card pretty with little effort. I stamped the flowers and leaves on Neenah cardstock using the MISTI tool and then stamped the sentiment with Versafine black in. I matted the card front with pink cardstock and then adhered to a white card base. I added some Enamel Accents to the flower centers for some dimension.

Sunday, September 04, 2016

For Technique Tuesday's Random Act of Cardness event I wanted to create a bunch of cards... to send just because. And I was having fun with alcohol inks so I made a dozen really quickly.

The thing about alcohol ink is that it dries so fast that you can make a bunch of card fronts in no time and, unlike things like watercolor, you don't have to wait for them to dry. To make a bunch of cards quickly I made 6 card fronts with glossy paper cut to 4.25 X 5.5 inches. Once they were done I cut them in half and got a dozen card fronts made that fast! For a description of how I made this marbly background go to this blog post I did recently. For these cards I used Turquoise and Lettuce alcohol ink with pearl mixative.

Once the backgrounds were done I adhered them to white 4 bar card bases. Then I die cut a bunch of banners in blue cardstock and heat embossed the sentiment with white embossing powder. I used an older Hero Arts stamp set called Huge Hugs that I think is discontinued. But you can use any greeting that will fit. A little epoxy heart completed the card.

Saturday, September 03, 2016

The celebration of Simon Says Stamp's Stamptember continues with a card using the Oh Happy Day stamp set....

I have been wanting to watercolor with Distress Ink refills because I knew it would give such a rich color very easily and it did on this card.

First I prepared the watercolor cardstock with the powder tool so that the embossing powder doesn't stick in places that I don't want it. I stamped the middle flower with Versafine ink and quickly sprinkled some clear embossing powder on it and heat embossed it. Then I stamped the image on masking paper and cut it out and put it on top. I wanted to overlap the flowers and this way the flower in the middle will appear to be in front. I then repeated the stamping and embossing of the other two flowers.

Before I watercolor I always tape the paper on to a board to keep it flat as it gets wet. I used a small wooden board like this one. To color the images I put just one drop of each of the flower color inks on my craft sheet. Then I took a small brush and dipped it in water and colored just the flower area on the watercolor paper that I wanted to color in. Pre-wetting it makes the ink distribute more easily and the heat embossing makes it easier for the color to stay in the lines. Then I dipped the really wet brush in to the ink and spread it around. Then I dabbed it on to the wet flower. It spreads so beautifully. I repeated that for each flower. Then I did the same on the background. I wet it in sections so it wouldn't dry, going back and forth between wetting and inking. So fun to do.

Once it was all dry I took a T ruler and a Copic multi-liner and drew the stems from the flowers to the bottom of the card.

To create the "thanks" I die cut the word and line from black cardstock. Then I inked up the whole piece with Versamark ink and heat embossed it with clear embossing powder. Then I did the same thing a second time to get a more raised epoxy look.

To finish the card I attached the greeting to the card front then I matted the card front in some orange cardstock scraps. Then I mounted it all on a white card base.

Thursday, September 01, 2016

It really is the most wonderful time of the year... Simon Says Stamp's Stamptember. A month long celebration with all kinds of great products and inspiration. I had fun playing with one of the new stamp sets.

There are some fun products in the Stamptember release and you can find them all here.

For this card I stamped the cake layers using black ink on white cardstock. Then I created a mask to put over that image and stamped the cake pedestal using Granite ink. Then I stamped the candles in black ink. I did some simple coloring of the cake layers using a Copic marker (Y13). I used the fun new Enamel Accents colors to create little dotted decorations on top of each layer. Then I used Copic markers (BG000, BG0000, and E41) to color the background. I added some Glossy Accents to the pedestal.

I used rounded rectangle dies to create the frame. I stamped the greeting with Versafine ink. Then I popped the frame off of a white card base using foam tape.